Originally, it had a method for authors to hint to the user agent which camera to use – you could suggest “user” for the camera that faces you, or “environment” for the camera that faces outwards. This has disappeared from the spec, to be dealt with later, once the complex capabilities & constraints API is fleshed out.

Should the author be able to specify which camera should be used? It seems to me that this would be a good idea. For example, my mobile phone camera is usually set to use the rear-facing “environment” camera, but if I were to start up a video-conferencing app (or any of the fun “Photo booth” apps on Shiny Demos) I’d like the app to switch to using the forward-facing “user” camera without my having to manually switch camera. (Some devices don’t have hardware switches, so would require me to go to a system preference to change which camera to use, which would be a major pain in the arse.)

I strongly feel that the Working Group should allow authors to choose which camera to use before fleshing out advanced capabilities & constraints APIs which are beyond the use-cases of many authors.

However, although most phones will continue to have two cameras, some devices like the Mito 611 have more than two. How do we write a specification for hinting which camera to use with multiple cameras?

A default camera as well as mic/speaker needs to be set at startup, but the user needs to be able to change as need. It is really best if it can be done in the middle of a session. It is much more useful that way, particularly for users that are unfamiliar with how things work.

has anyone figured out a way to use the front-facing camera on android in any browser with getusermedia? I can’t seem to find the settings anywhere. I also tried searching the phone to set front-facing as default but had no luck. I’m using an HTC One if that helps

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